Berlusconi associate's arrest ripples through Milan's business circles

Italian police said Monday they had arrested Valter Lavitola, a businessman with ties to former premier Silvio Berlusconi, for ordering a bomb attack targeting prominent television journalist Sigfrido Ranucci last year, according to CBS News and The Local Italy. Lavitola, a former journalist and import-export businessman who owns a restaurant in Rome, was close to Berlusconi.

The arrest has resonated in Milan, the city where Berlusconi built his media empire and where many of his associates still move in business and political circles. Lavitola's detention raises questions about the lingering influence of the old guard in the region's corporate boardrooms, where connections to political power have historically been a currency of their own.

CBS News reported that police described Lavitola as the 'mastermind' behind the attack, which targeted Ranucci, a journalist known for investigative reporting. The case has drawn international attention to the intersection of media, business, and politics in Italy, a theme that foreign correspondents have long filed from Milan.